Mail app automatically entering one of my configured accounts

Question

Mail app automatically entering one of my configured accounts

My iPhone 3GS started acting oddly last week. When I press the Mail icon the Mail application enters one of my email account's inbox without me selecting which account.

I have three email accounts: two Exchange and one GMail configured. When I press the Mail icon, the application goes directly into one of the account's inbox. It is that account's Inbox and not the All Inboxes as the upper left has the account name 'back' button to return to the accounts folder list.

I removed all email accounts and re-added them. Same thing started happening. I restored the phone back to factory settings and re-added all accounts. This helped for a while but it started doing it again.

If I back out to the main Mail screen with the account listing and leave it there in about 15 seconds it enters an inbox on its own. Very odd. It seems to be the Gmail account that it enters but when I remove that account - it just does it to another account.

Any thoughts.

Mac Air, Mac OS X (10.6.6), iPhone 3GS 16G

Posted on Mar 8, 2011 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2011 9:00 AM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

The 4.3 OS upgrade seems to have solved the issue - even though that wasn't what that update was for - but I'm happy.

Thanks for the help.

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Answer 2

Mar 15, 2011 10:35 AM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

I am having the EXACT same issue. Problem is, I have CDMA iPhone which has not been upgraded to 4.3 yet. Please post if you are having the same issue so that Apple is aware.

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Answer 3

Mar 15, 2011 10:43 AM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

Ok, the problem went away for a couple of days then returned - different email inbox that it goes into but same problem.

One thing I did notice is it is going into the Inbox selection for the account - and not the account. Meaning I only have to hit back once to get to the account list - I don't get the folder listing.

I hope someone has some suggestions.

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Answer 4

HaoleKai

Level 1

16 points

Mar 15, 2011 11:02 AM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

Unfortunately, that's working as designed. Here's why you'll see different behaviors.

If your mail app is running in the background, when you reopen it, it will open to the last place you left it. Personally, I always leave it at the list of accounts.

If your mail app is not running in the background, the rather unfortunate decision Apple has made, is to open the inbox (not the account/inbox, but the separate inbox) of your default mail account.

There seems to be no way to change this default behavior.

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Answer 5

Mar 15, 2011 11:21 AM in response to HaoleKai

Thank you for your response. Any information is appreciated.

I checked my setup and your thoughts were not what is happening.

First, I ALWAYS leave my mail app in the account listing screen - that's how I noticed when it started happening. Also, the account it is going into is not my default account per my settings.

Please keep bouncing ideas this way - I am sure we can find the solution.

Best Regards.

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Answer 6

Mar 15, 2011 11:49 AM in response to HaoleKai

You are correct that the mail app will open in the same way it was last closed, but this is not the issue. When I open the mail app, it generally is at the mail home screen listing the accounts, since this is where I almost always leave it. After a few seconds it will open the inbox of the first account in the list. If I back out to the mail home screen again, it waits 3-15 seconds(actually pretty random)then returns to the inbox. If all mail accounts are deleted, then re-added, the phone will function perfectly for 1-2 weeks. Then it will start all over again. This is VERY frustrating. We cannot be the only 2 cases where this is happening, especially given that our phones are completely different and running slightly different versions of iOS. I recently hard-reset the entire phone and will wait to see how long it takes to happen again. I will avoid installing additional apps with the exception of Facebook. I will have a company exchange account, my Gmail account configured as exchange, and my Yahoo! account. I know I should probably not even have Facebook installed to avoid the possibility that that is the culprit, but I don't want my phone to be entirely useless. I don't really feel that I should have to be the guinea pig here, but this issue is particularly annoying to me. And Apple phone care has not even heard of the issue. So again, PLEASE post here and call Apple if you are experiencing this issue.

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Answer 7

Mar 15, 2011 11:57 PM in response to Michael.West

I having the same problem on the IPhone 4 it jumps into my default inbox which i can live with, but then when i go to another inbox, exchange for example it will then jump back to my default on the next sync. SO i cant effectivly use my mail.

Tried reset, restart, everything and no joy its driving me mad!

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Answer 8

Mar 16, 2011 12:38 AM in response to Knighter78

Ok had a play with deleting different accounts at different times.
My accounts are listed as follows All Inboxes, Yahoo, Gmail, Exchange.

What i see is when i open Mail it always jumps straight to the inbox of Yahoo, if i come out to the mailbox list it will remain there briefly but always jumps back to the Yahoo. I can click into Exchange inbox and it stays there ok, but as soon as i go to the list, it jumps to Yahoo.

When i deleted the Yahoo account, it always jumped to Gmail in the same manner, so it appears that the account listed directly under All Inboxes is where it jumps too.

Help me anyone its breaking me.

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Answer 9

Mar 21, 2011 6:06 AM in response to Knighter78

Sorry for the delay but wanted to make sure the problem didn’t return.

My three accounts are two exchange accounts and a gmail account (as a gmail account). I removed all three and added them back as three exchange accounts. After about two days the problem returned. My email on my iPhone worked flawlessly until I wanted to have my gmail on my phone.

I removed all three accounts again and did a factory reset. I then only added my two work Exchange based accounts. I have been trouble free for a whole week – and that’s the longest since this has started.

I was wondering if the others with this problem also had gmail accounts and if any were willing to try and go without for a bit?

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Answer 10

Oct 7, 2012 2:44 PM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

Hello!

I have an iPhone 3Gs - iOS 6.0 and I'm having the same issue..⚠

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Answer 11

Minok

Level 1

53 points

Feb 1, 2013 1:07 PM in response to Urfin Just

I have an iPhone 4S with iOS 6.1 installed and have been having this same problem with iOS 5.x, 6.0.x and now 6.1

I'd be reading my 'all mailboxes' feed and as mail syncs to a the collection of mailboxes to get new messages, the view leaves the current message I was reading and reloads the top message in the top inbox in my inboxes list (excluding the all inboxes and VIP inboxes).

Rather very annoying to have the mail tool just jump out of the message you were reading and jump to a specific message somewhere else.

I've reordered the inboxes in my inboxes list to put my most used inbox at the top (under VIP) so at least it is most likely to stay in the correct mailbox in the future, but this behaviour cannot have been designed in for some beneficial reason.

Sync in new messages, update the unread info for each mailbox, but for crying out loud don't move from where the tool currently is in its menu/message context!😠

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Answer 12

Jun 3, 2013 11:49 AM in response to BigGuyXXLinMI

Has anyone solved this problem yet? I'm experiencing the same issue. I have 4 email accounts, but regardless of which account I'm in or what view I see when I exit, the mail app always opens the first account in my list. And the first account is not my default account (as specified in Settings). If I open "All Mailboxes" within a few seconds it will automatically jump to my first account. Nothing I do seems to correct this irritating problem. I have a 4S with iOS 6.1.3. I believe it started after this latest iOS update.

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Answer 13

ElTigre7

Level 1

0 points

Aug 21, 2013 2:00 PM in response to BobTheBold

I experienced this same problem and no one offered a solution that worked. Ultimately other weird things started to happen, like my phone not connecting to wireless networks that it had connected to for months. I had no choice but to do a complete factory reset, and during the course of that process it told me that it was installing a "carrier software update from AT&T" (my carrier). I was never given the option to update this software during any iTunes or other update process - only during the complete reset. Anyway, I backed up my phone, started the reset process, and after 90 minutes or so everything was good as new - no more problems with email accounts (described above), wireless or anything else. It's a bit of a pain to go through but well worth it in the end.

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